This was my fourth cruise and my mother's second. My reasons for choosing Carnival Inspiration were the ship's recent renovation, the four day itinerary and the convenience of flying on Southwest from Chicago to Tampa.

As always, we flew down a night early and took a taxi to the Hyatt Tampa Downtown. The airport was about 15-20 minutes from the hotel and it cost us $37 for the taxi.

The Hyatt sells Starbuck's coffee along with some basic items for breakfast and lunch including fruit, cereal, bagels, sandwiches, etc. (Buy your water here; a regular bottle of water in your room is $5!) There is a full service restaurant and a small bar outside of the restaurant. The pool is located on the 5th floor of the hotel where there is a very nice sun deck and hot tub along with what appeared to be a well equipped workout room. Blue One Shuttle is used to transport guests to and from the airport but they are only available until 10:00 p.m. which is why we took a taxi when we arrived. The port is only about five minutes from the hotel but they do not offer complimentary shuttle service. We used Blue One which cost $6 for the two of us. You cannot walk to the port from the hotel. Read more